Lew: 'Congress is playing with fire'

Oct. 6, 2013
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Jack Lew / Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew toured the interview shows Sunday to warn that Congress is "playing with fire" in opposing an increase to the debt ceiling.

Lew again warned that Oct. 17 -- a week from Thursday -- is the day the government hits the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling and loses the legal borrowing authority to pay existing bills.

"I'm telling you that on the 17th, we run out of our ability to borrow," Lew said on CNN's State of the Union.

That would damage government programs including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans programs and disability programs, Lew said during appearances on Fox News Sunday, CBS' Face The Nation, and NBC's Meet The Press.

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, criticized President Obama for refusing to negotiate on legislation to raise the debt ceiling and to end the government shutdown now in its sixth day.

"I've been willing to sit down with the president and have this conversation," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on ABC's This Week. "His refusal to negotiate is what's putting the government at risk of default."

Boehner also said: "He knows what my phone number is. All he has to do is call."

The GOP-run House wants a debt ceiling bill or a new spending plan to include a one-year delay in parts of Obama's health care law; Obama, Lew and other Democrat say the health care delays are unacceptable.

On Fox News Sunday, Lew told Fox News said Boehner and congressional Republicans are forcing "ridiculous" choices, and have a responsibility to fund the government and pay the nation's bills.